In what is a first of its kind partnership, LAFC and adidas Originals honour the city of Los Angeles with the reveal of not one, but two limited-edition sneakers: the Heart of Gold Samba and the Street By Street Samba.
LAFC have become the first Club in Major League Soccer history to collaborate with adidas Originals on a co-branded Samba, honouring the city of Los Angeles. LAFC joins Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid as iconic clubs in world football to recently have custom Club sneakers. To kick off the collaboration, adidas released the #HeartofGold Samba which features a primarily gold body with black laces. With wear, the gold on the sneaker will begin to fade, revealing the #StreetByStreet Samba with a few gold elements remaining, including the gold three-stripes and the LAFC details.
A limited number of #HeartofGold Sambas will be distributed amongst Los Angeles community heroes and frontline workers, specifically to those with a ‘heart of gold’, who are making a difference within the local community. Recipients of the limited-edition #HeartofGold Sambas were nominated by members of the LAFC community as local leaders who exemplified being a selfless citizen and doing good in the local community.
“The LAFC community was built by being authentic to global football culture and authentic to the city of Los Angeles,” LAFC Executive Vice President of Brand & Community Rich Orosco said. “We are thrilled to create the first-ever adidas Originals MLS collaboration, and to continue our community journey with the LAFC Samba shoe, a cornerstone of global football and casual culture.”
Featuring entirely black and gold elements, the #StreetByStreet Samba includes an all-black body, the iconic three-stripes in gold, and ‘Los Angeles’ spelled out parallel to the top stripe. The shoe inserts read ‘Street x Street, Block x Block, One x One,’ a nod to one of the Club’s core pillars and community building mentality. Rounding out the design is the iconic LAFC crest displayed on the removable tongue of each sneaker.
“This collaboration is a testament to our Club’s efforts to push the boundaries of football culture outside of the stadium and into the streets of Los Angeles,” LAFC Manager of Brand & Community Ben Chi said. “LAFC aspires to become the next cultural icon in Los Angeles, and the LAFC Samba is more fuel.”
While the #HeartofGold Samba will not be available for retail purchase, the limited-edition #StreetByStreet Samba will be available beginning August 22 at WSS, adidas.com, Fanatics, Niky’s Sports and NTWRK.
